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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 11:02

Mr. Saleh, in power for 33 years until he arrived in New York last month, is one of the true monsters of the world. He is in the same class in terms of violence and deprivation inflicted on his country as President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe and perhaps even President Bashar Assad of Syria.

Mr. Saleh, by his cooperation with the United States in fighting the supposed war on terror in Yemen, won over the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and obtained shelter when it was time for him to leave his country. It was not a coincidence that "fighting terrorists" in Yemen corresponded perfectly with keeping himself in power.

The successor regime is not likely to be different from his in terms of its actions or acceptability to the Yemeni people. The nation held presidential elections Tuesday, which sounds good except that there was only one candidate, Vice President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, chosen by Mr. Saleh.

Yemen remains a hotbed of competing, violent factions. The schism between North and South Yemen, with the former capitals of Sana'a and Aden, remains. It has Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims fighting each other and a full spectrum of extremist to moderate Muslims. The late Osama bin Laden had family ties to Yemen, and the U.S.S. Cole was attacked in Aden harbor in 2000.

What happens in Yemen makes Saudi Arabia nervous, and what makes Saudi Arabia nervous always makes the White House nervous, which partly explains U.S. military involvement there since 9/11. Having been given free rein in Yemen by Mr. Saleh, U.S. Special Operations Forces had the chance to kill a few al-Qaida leaders.

Gratitude for that and Saudi pressure were the reasons Mr. Saleh was allowed to come to the United States. Given the quality of medical care he will get here, it could be a long stay.

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